Tennis, Running, and Stars

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

My husband and I were fortunate enough to plan WAY ahead and get lodging for our summer vacation in Jackson, WY, so we could hike in Grand Teton National Park and view the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. We had a wonderful trip, and the eclipse was amazing!

We viewed the eclipse just a few miles from the Jackson Hole airport, which was near the centerline of totality. The partial eclipse started at about 10:17am, totality started about 11:35am, totality ended just after 11:37am, and the eclipse ended at about 1:00pm.

While the partial eclipse was interesting to view through eclipse glasses, no other effects were apparent until the Sun started getting 80% and more eclipsed.

We noticed that it was getting generally darker, so much so that passing cars on the road had their automatic lights on. The coloring of the light was odd, though. Unlike a sunrise or sunset, where the dim sunlight is reddened, this dimmer light wasn't red. The dusk that started was oddly bluish to me in contrast to a sunrise or sunset. It had an eerie quality almost like a poor fluorescent light.

We were also in Wyoming, which is a very dry area that has big temperature swings between night and day. As the Sun became more eclipsed, the ambient temperature dropped dramatically - I think it must have gone from 70s F down into the 50s F during totality.

Totality itself was amazing. We saw a beautiful diamond ring effect when the Moon initially blocked the entire Sun. And then it seemed like the Sun was so small - without the blindingly bright light from the photosphere to make the Sun seem large, its true angular size was so small! The Moon's night side was so amazingly dark, like a hole in the sky. The corona wasn't very active - I noticed about three streamers during totality. The sky didn't get quite as dark as night, but Venus was very distinct. I wasn't able to see Regulus (for sure) or Mars or Mercury. There were a few other stars visible farther from the Sun that I wasn't certain what they were.

I hadn't really seen the Moon's shadow approaching us along the ground - I think that may be partly because it was coming over the Tetons, so we couldn't see it as far away. But when totality ended, I definitely saw the Moon's shadow rushing away from us toward the east. We saw another diamond ring just at the end of totality.

Overall, it was such an awesome event! Well worth all the time and planning to see it.

I wanted to give a big "thank you" to all of the management of Grand Teton National Park and the city of Jackson. The entire eclipse "event" was extremely well-thought-out and well-planned by the folks in charge. We arrived in Jackson over a week before the eclipse, and there were already message signs out around town and in the park reminding people of the upcoming eclipse and changes in traffic, parking, and travel. The National Park Service printed a huge number of approximately 8-page newspapers with extensive information about how, where, and when to view the eclipse and accurate information about what a total solar eclipse is. Eclipse glasses were available everywhere.

The park had designated several viewing areas for the eclipse. They had designated a long road through the park near the centerline of the eclipse as one of the main viewing areas, and also allowed viewing from all of the turn-outs along the park roads. The most miraculous bit of planning to me was that two days before the eclipse, port-a-potties appeared in every single viewing area in the park. Since people started parking before 6am and totality wasn't until about 11:30am, some type of facilities were needed, but I was amazed that these were all provided ahead of time. Once eclipse parking started, every different turn-out and viewing area had a staffer to help manage traffic and hand out eclipse glasses if needed.

I was extremely impressed by the organization, and Jackson and Grand Teton NP help turn the eclipse into an unforgettable, positive event by smoothing out ahead of time the snags that could have developed.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

This weekend I ran the half-marathon at the St. Michaels Running Festival. Unfortunately the weather for the race was horrible. It was mid-50s F, and rained the whole time. The rain was light when the rain started, but it got heavier and heavier throughout the race. Not fun!

Despite the conditions, I did manage to finish in a much better time than last year. My chip time was 2:16:49. I finished in 835th place out of 1547 runners. I was 65th out of 151 women in my 40 - 44 yr age group. I didn't walk at all, which was an accomplishment. Last year I finished in 2:20:15. I had been hoping to beat 2:15:00 this year, but it was not to be. My legs were definitely feeling all kinds of problems, so I'm glad that I finished.

Here's a list of my training runs of this race, starting after the Marine Corps Marathon 10K at the end of last October:

Sunday, May 1, 2016

This weekend, I went to Wintergreen Resort for a weekend tennis clinic with three other ladies from my team! I've been to weekend tennis clinics at Wintergreen three times before, and I've always found them extremely helpful in improving my tennis game, This trip was no exception.

Friday morning, I did some stretching and foam rolling. I drove my teammate Fran down to Wintergreen, and we had a three-hour clinic in the afternoon with our other two teammates. We worked on hitting deep volleys and choosing appropriate targets when we were volleying.

Saturday morning, we had three more hours of tennis, with more volley practice and also some drills on picking targets for overheads. This was a lot of fun. In the afternoon, we returned for an hour of (unsupervised) play.

Unfortunately the weather was horrible - while we were in the clinic Saturday morning, this incredible fog moved in and stayed all day and overnight. We could hardly see far enough ahead to drive anywhere on the windy mountain roads, even in the daytime. We had hoped to be able to do some hiking outside, but it was far to damp and cold, and there was no visibility to see anything scenic! So we spent the rest of the afternoon in our rental house watching TV and playing games. We did go a short distance to one of the resort restaurants for dinner.

This morning, we had two more hours of tennis clinic before driving home. We worked on different types of shots to use against opponents that are playing two at the net. Very useful!

This afternoon, once I got home, I did a run outside. It was misting a bit, but it was pretty good weather for running. I ran 4.24 mi in 47:40, which was an average speed of about 5.35 mph. Unfortunately my Basis Peak heart rate monitor seemed to go crazy again. The first 1/3 of the run seemed to have a reasonably plausible heart rate. But in the last 2/3 or so of the run, the heart rate seemed to go up and down between 150 and 180 BPM, and there's no way I was working that hard. This is very frustrating.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Last night after work, I had a practice with my tennis team. It was a little chilly and gray, but we had some good tennis. In the first round, my partner, Bhanu, and I won 6-3, which was a bit unexpected, given our opponents. We definitely had a lot of good games. In the second round, I played singles against one of our most consistent 3.5 singles players, and got creamed 0-6, 4-6. She is very good about placing her shots exactly where she wants them.

This morning, I did the P90X3 workout The Challenge. In total, I did 221 push-ups and 39 pull-ups (unassisted), which was good! I can definitely do more push-ups next time. I burned a whopping 75 calories! Ha!

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Yesterday after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 60-min easy run. I did this outside on the Sligo Creek Trail. In 57:20, I ran 5.17 mi, which was an average speed of 5.4 mph. I won't run in that direction on the trail again, because there are too many street crossings with long waits at the traffic lights!

My Basis Peak gave much more consistent and reasonable heart rate readings during this run. This was the first time I had run since I reinstalled the firmware for the Peak, as per the support person's instructions. Hopefully this will fix the problems! I still have to try it running on the treadmill.

After my run, I did some extra stretching for my back and foam rolling. I'm trying to take care of my sore back and sore glute/hamstring!

This morning, I did the P90X3 workout The Warrior. This is a mix of cardio and strength moves. It's not my favorite, but it does go quickly. I burned about 150 calories.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Yesterday morning, I did a P90X3 workout, Total Synergistics. I burned about 95 calories.

Yesterday evening, I had my usual tennis doubles at TCCP. Unlike Sunday afternoon, I actually played pretty well! In the first round, my partner, Abby, and I won 6-4; this was a very good round, since our opponents were quite good. In the second round, my partner, Sally, and I won 6-5, in another close round. In the last round, my partner, Valerie, and I tied 2-2 when we ran out of time. It was a fun night!

This morning, I did another P90X3 workout, Triometrics. This is a pretty good workout, with a combination of leg and balance work along with plyometrics. I'm still really feeling the pull in my left upper hamstring/glute. I was hoping it would heal up a little faster, but apparently it's not going to. I burned about 160 calories.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

This weekend has just been packed! This morning we got groceries like usual, and then I did some yard work before lunch. After lunch, I changed the cat litter and then went to a practice with my tennis team.

Unfortunately I played horribly today. I'm just tired, I think, and doing everything a little bit off. In the first round, my partner, Jody, and I lost 6-2 - blah. In the second round, my partner, Cora, and I lost 7-5 and then evened it up at 2-2, if I remember right. In the last round, my partner, Bhanu, and I won 5-2. That was all her effort, since I was still playing badly.

After practice, I cleaned the floors and we had dinner. We are trying to get everything done early so we can watch Game of Thrones and go to bed! It's been a very busy weekend!